Rocksmith – The future of learning guitar?

So on the advice of my friend Luke, I bought Rocksmith a little while ago even though a new version is coming out in October (Rocksmith 2014). It’s actually a pretty good deal right now on Amazon (link) because for $25 you get the rocktone cable and the PC version of the game on DVD but comes with a steamplay code so you can install it via steam to have it on all your computers. I’m not exactly learning on Rocksmith since I’ve been playing off and on for around 17 years, but I’ve found it to be incredibly useful and pretty fun.

I think the best way to think of Rocksmith would be not as a video game, but as a practice or training aid. It’s not meant to be the teacher, god no. But it is a great supplemental tool for practicing and building up skills. Interestingly enough, your goal while playing is to keep doing each phrase perfectly so you can level up that phrase and get more notes (more points) until you reach the end game (master mode), which is no notes at all. This is an example of a song in normal Rocksmith mode. Excuse my crappy sounding D5.

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I’m on twitch TV now and occasionally stream my Rocksmith sessions so if you want to check that out, click here. But yea, back to the main point. This is the future. I can totally see programs like this being used by music teachers to supplement home practicing. It’s not a bad idea since most music students would be younger and a video game might be better at holding their attention. Perhaps the days of dreading the practicing of instruments is over, but we’ll see.